Dr Areeba Abbasi, PML-N leader's daughter, quits hospital over political targetting

RAWALPINDI: Dr Areeba Abbasi, the daughter of Hanif Abbasi, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said Sunday she had resigned from her job at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital owing to a toxic work environment created by her medical superintendent.

Dr Abbasi alleged that Dr Tariq Niazi, the superintendent, was targetting her for political revenge and said he has links to leaders from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

"I cannot work in the same facility as him [Dr Niazi] so I've had to resign," she said. She added that the superintendent has acknowledged his links to the PTI numerous times.

Hired as a medical officer at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital on September 13, 2017, Dr Abbasi said she was assigned to the emergency department for two months, following which she was posted to pathology, where she worked for three months. Thereafter, she was transferred to the skin (dermatology) department, where she worked hard.

However, her stint in dermatology was interrupted when suddenly, Dr Niazi transferred her back into the emergency department.

Prior to this, a phone call that Punjab Law Minister Muhammad Basharat Raja made to Niazi had made rounds in the media. 

It was revealed that the minister had called the superintendent to transfer Dr Abbasi from emergency to skin department again, with threats made if he did not pay heed to his demands. Raja had reportedly warned Dr Niazi that he wouldn't be able to stay in the hospital if he didn't adhere to his demands.

Dr Niazi, however, had refused to do so.